Saving People, Hunting Things
by Natasha68
Summary: Giroc and Sinofar are watching the battle between the Liberator and the Federation ships and getting ready to act. Then someone unexpected appears on their planet.


Standing among the monuments and the graves of the last of their race, Giroc and Sinofar were looking at the night sky. A space battle was raging there, one large white ship surrounded and mercilessly bombarded by three smaller ones. Soon the two weird sisters would stop the battle, trapping the ships in a stasis beam and disabling all the weapons. Then they would enter the minds of the ships' crew and choose contestants for a duel – in order to teach the lesson of war, death and loss that everyone who entered their sphere of influence was fated to learn.

Suddenly, their concentration was broken by the sound of footsteps and voices. Sinofar diverted her gaze from the sky and turned to see two young men approaching between the rows of headstones. One was tall, with long hair and a somewhat melancholy expression. The other, shorter and dressed in a worn-out leather jacket, was looking at Sinofar with a rascally grin. Nevertheless, she quickly regained her composure and began chanting the ritual greeting.

'Listen, newcomers! We are Sinofar, the Guardian. We are Giroc, the Keeper. Everyone who comes to our planet must learn a lesson. The first part of the lesson is the d–'

The speech was interrupted by a blast from the young man's sawed-off. The figures of the two women suddenly dispersed and vanished, leaving behind nothing but whiffs of smoke and mist among the ruins.

'Sorry, ladies,' the young man said, still grinning. 'Can't stand a pep talk coming from a ghost, let alone a ghost who sounds like a teacher and wants to give me lessons.'

'Dean, man,' said the taller one. 'You know that shot of salt you've fired has only sent them away momentarily. They'll be back unless we find out where they're buried and finish the job.'

'Yeah, Sam, I know, I'm on it.'

Finding the graves of the two women turned out to be quite easy: they had been buried on a privileged spot among the menhirs, and each of the headstones was topped by a statuette made in their image. Sam and Dean dug underneath until they found the skeletons. They covered them with a fair amount of salt, poured gasoline and struck matches, setting the remains of Giroc and Sinofar on fire.

'Let's get out of here, dude,' Dean said, dragging away Sam who was still brooding, staring at the flames. 'I have no clue where this is, but I have a hunch we're not in Kansas anymore. And haven't you heard that younger ghost chick talking about us being on _their planet_?' He cast an uneasy glance at the rows of statues holding broken weapons, as another bolt of lightning struck the ground in the distance. 'We never should have gone through that transdimensional portal that opened in Bobby's house.'

'Yeah, except that the readings on our EMF meter went off the scale, and we had to find out why,' Sam reminded him. 'And, you see? We were right to do so. There was a job for us here. Ghosts. After all, this is our family business, isn't it – saving people, hunting things.'

The portal that would lead them back to their own dimension was shimmering faintly among the ruins. Before entering it, Dean paused thoughtfully. 'Speaking of saving people – I wonder who we saved this time?'

'Who knows?' Sam shrugged. 'But I'm sure that _someone_ was endangered by those ghosts, and will be glad to know we got rid of them.'

Aboard the Liberator, as the flight deck shook with the blasts of plasma bolts fired from the Federation pursuit ships, Blake explained his strategy to Cally and Avon. They were going to ram Travis's ship at full speed; he was confident that the Liberator would withstand the impact. Everyone agreed that it was their only chance.

It was only a few seconds before the collision that Cally suddenly had a premonition and knew for certain that Blake's confidence had been ungrounded. The Liberator would not hold out and none of them would survive.

There were no mystical powers on the planet below that would freeze the ships in time and prevent them from clashing. The two guardians of the dead race were gone, their spirits finally laid to rest by Sam and Dean. The Liberator and Travis's Pursuit One collided in a blinding explosion. Only debris remained, silently floating in space.


End file.
